How To Tell If The Timing Of Your Drum Tracks Need Tightening
- drumaudioediting
- 4 days ago
- 6 min read
Within the context of a song or a mix, it can be hard to tell if the timing of the drums require tightening, to the lesser trained ear. In this article we're going to give you 2 common symptoms of sloppy drums to listen out for and 2 lesser-understood ones, so you can get your drum tracks tightened up by a drum editor if necessary.
Before we dive in — if you’re serious about pro-level drum edits, check out our full drum editing PDF toolkit.
Symptom 1 That The Timing Of The Drums Needs Tightening - Low End Flamming
The bass guitar and kick drum, in most genres join in unison to drive the beat and groove of a song. More often than not it's really important for these 2 elements to lock in tightly together, to give you that wall of rhythm you require to clearly punch out of the mix.
If you're listening back over a mix and the bass drum and bass guitar both independently sound good, but it still feels like they're not locking in and driving the song, it could be that your kick drum hits are a little too far from the grid (if the bass is tight to the grid) or the bass. This requires a semi-trained ear and/or a good mix to spot.
There are an infinite amount of ways to approach audio mixing in the same way they say there's a million ways to skin a cat. (They said it, not me). However a common technique that mixers use is to solo the kick and bass guitar towards the start of the process to tidy up the low end, ensuring they're not masking each other and competing for the same space of the frequency spectrum.
If you have access to the mixing project, solo the bass guitar and kick and make sure they're locking in together. For maximum impact, ensure the transients of the kick drum and pick attack are tightly time aligned. It should sound like the kick drum is plucking or 'triggering' the bass guitar.
If the kick and bass guitar notes are creating a flamming effect, in the same way kick/snare flam would, then your drum tracks definitely need tightening.
Important note: if you're tightening the drums yourself, regardless of the method you are using - DO NOT move the kick drum indepedently from the other drum tracks. Doing this will cause phase issues, which means even more flamming. Always group/select all of your drum tracks together before slip editng them.
Symptom 2 That The Timing Of The Drums Needs Tightening - Inconsistent Feel
Drums are the backbone of any song/mix. In most genres, listeners tend to focus on the drums in order to keep the timing of the song in their head. It's the steady timing and rhythm of the song which dictates what they feel when they are listening to it.
If the drums are rapidly slowing down and speeding up throughout the song and lack rhythmic consistency, it doesn't require a trained ear to pick up on it. An inconsistent feel will disengage most listeners very quickly which is the last thing you want for your music.
Like I said, the drums are the backbone of the song, it's the default place the listeners go to as the other elements phase in and out of the mix. If the listeners contantly have to re-calibrate the speed at which their internal metronome is ticking along to the music, it makes for an uncomfortable and unsettling listen.
As a music creator and fellow listener, you should be able to pick up on these exact same feelings and emotions when listening back to your music. Is the song easy to listen to? Does it make you want to nod to the beat or do you feel lost and unable to concentrate on the groove? Do you know exactly when the next beat of the snare is going to hit, or are you constantly being caught off guard by late/early hits?
With the answers to these questions in mind, if the feel of the drums are provoking any kind of negative emotions when listening to the song, you will need to tighten the timing of the drums.
Ear fatigue is also a very real thing. Especially if you're excited about the project and have listened to the mix 731 times in the past week. After so many listens, your brains tricks you in to thinking that this thing you're creating is supposed to sound exactly the way is has done the past 731 times you've heard it.
It's important to take regular breaks from listening to recalibrate your ears and creative side of the brain to normal, so you can listen again with a fresh perspective. It also helps to get a an outsiders opinion, someone who you trust who isn't involved with the project.
Symptom 3 That The Timing Of The Drums Needs Tightening - The Other Instruments Sound Out Of Time
Perhaps you've taken into consider symptom 2 and concluded that your drums general feel pretty consistent. For some reason though, the guitars don't seem to lock in well with the perfomance, it sounds like the guitar is the problem, speeding up and slowing down throughout the song.
You turn to the unimpressed dude sat behind the monitor and say, can we get those guitars tightened up to the drums big man? He looks back at you as if you just dunked your penis in his coffee mug; "I've gridded all the guitars, it's impossible that they are the problem".
Truth is, although the guitars could be what's causing your mix to sound out of time, in this hypothetical and very real scenario, they're not. It's very possible for the drums to maintain a steady, consistent natural groove and still need to be tightened up. It all depends on what element of this kit the listeners is focusing on.
The problem usually comes in the sub-beats, the 'ands' inbetween the 1, 2, 3 and 4, if you like. Once you have kick beats and intricate hi hat patterns that fall off the beat, that happen to also be locking in with a 1/16th note lead guitar picking pattern, if there are any discrepincies in the timing of the drums in comparison it becomes very noticeable.
Remember the familiar phrase of a million ways to skin a cat? Well there's also a million different perspectives to listen to a track from, and that varies a lot from person to person. So it is common for different people to percieve different parts of a recording to be out of time. Believe me, I've witnessed the arguments inbetween the walls of a studio many times.
The long and short of it is, it's always worth checking the drums if the song's elements don't lock in. After all, they're the beating heart of a mix, so if you tighten your drum tracks to the grid, you've got a really solid foundation to build on top of.
Symptom 4 That The Timing Of The Drums Needs Tightening - The Mix Sounds Bad
A classic but commonly mistaken symptom of the drums needing tightening to the grid is when there's complaints that the mix sounds bad. This is for those reading who have a lesser-trained ear in regards to music production and mixing; beginner to novice producers and hobbyists. For the record, if this is you, I don't mean any disrepect here whatsover.
A lot of musically creative minds, including you, have the instinctual-like abillity to pick up on a problem when they listen to something. They know instantly when something doesn't feel right, sound right, or align well with their intended vision for the song.
Occasionally, with fragile musical egos involved, fingers can be unintentionally, unjustly pointed in the wrong direction because not everyone is aware of what exactly is causing this undesired outcome. While the mix could be outright terrible, it's worth asking yourself the following questions:
What's causing the mix to sound bad?
Does the song flow and groove nicely?
Does the performance sound tight and "locked in"?
What instruments in particular sound 'off''?
Regardless of the issue, you need to put a magnifier glass on exactly what element of the mix doesn't sound good. From there you can investigate further. If you need guidance how to get your drum tracks to sound great in a mix, you can follow our handy beginner guides below:
As final food for thought, I will say that from experience; a tightened performance can make a good mix sound great, a sloppy performance can make a potentially great mix sound poor. Take from that what you will.
If you need your drum tracks tightening for any of the reasons above, you can get in touch with us for a quote to tighten your drum tracks. Click here to get in touch with us directly.
If this article helped you, you’ll love our complete PDF — 10 Essential Drum Editing Hacks. Packed with workflow fixes and editing tricks that save hours.
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